Localism

Like sunburn, wetsuit rashes, and crotch rot, dealing with localism is an unfortunate aspect of surfing that every surfer will deal with at one point or another. I've only ever had anything negative said to me in the water twice in my life, and both at the same spot. The second time just occured yesterday, and it got me thinking about this phenomenon. First off, here's the story.

Let's call the spot Circus Point. So I paddle out at Circus Point, and there are only 5-6 guys in the water due to the fact that it usually only breaks in the winter. Circus Point has a strong reputation for localism, so even though it's not crowded, I keep it mellow, and hang out at the end of the line up. This one guy sees me, and I can tell he's just looking for something to get on my case about. On the first wave I paddle for, his buddy drops in on me, and I eat it. No prob, I'm not going to say anything. Even so, I come up and this dude is giving me stink eye. Now I'm tense. Homeboy ends up catching a wave and is inside of me. He's paddling back out, and I feel him staring at me as I go for another wave which I frankly biff. Shit, I know he sees this, and I'm going to hear it now. As he paddles by me, he says "why don't you go surf the inside." I respond by saying, "I'm not getting in anyone's way," which is probably a dumb thing to say, even though it's true. Regardless, I make sure to keep my distance from the guy, and stay further inside. Honestly, I never planned to jostle with the 5 guys on the outside, as there were plenty of waves on the inside to share with just 1 other dude, so this was all fine with me. However, due to the current, I ended up getting pulled out a bit, and homeboy starts paddling more inside until he gets close enough to say as I'm about to paddle for a scrap coming through, "that's not a wave, get out of here, this isn't a place to learn how to surf kook." Now that just stings. There are a lot of worse things that he could've said or done, but for some reason that really got to me. Anyway, I just ignored him, and he actually paddled in first, and I got a few waves after he left.

Now, I'm not a hard core ripper, and don't claim to be. That said, I'm a perfectly capable surfer, and definitely know how to mind my etiquette in the lineup. So, regardless of all that, will I just never in my life be able to surf this spot in peace? Maybe that's a realization I need to accept. The fact of the matter is that even if people there weren't dicks it'd still be too crowded when it's working to really enjoy, so what's the alternative?